National Geographic: Mysteries of Egypt Page #2

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Giant statues of Ramses the Great

carved at Abu Simbel

are still some of the largest figures

ever sculpted from solid stone.

We don't know how they did it,

but we do know why

to honor the pharaohs,

both in life and after death.

Honor the pharaohs after death?

Does that have anything

to do with mummies?

Yes.

Look at Tutankhamen for example.

When the young kind died,

the priests sought

to create

a magical new body for him.

For 70 days they labored,

drying and preserving the

royal body with salts

and ointments,

then wrapping it in hundreds

of feet of linen laden

with protective jewels,

charms and amulets.

And finally,

crowning the mummy with

an exquisite golden death mask.

Tutankhamen was ready

for the afterlife.

Had the boy king lived

and died a thousand years earlier,

he would have been buried

like pharaohs long

before him in a monument

of colossal proportions

the man-made mountain

of stone called pyramids.

They probably saw the

pyramid's shape

as a mystical link

between earth and sky,

providing the pharaoh's soul

with a stairway to the heavens.

Of the fabled Seven Wonders

of the Ancient World

only the pyramids of

Giza remain-built

more than 4,000 years ago.

Nearly 500 feet tall

they contain some

of the largest pieces

of stone ever moved by

humans-as much as 50 tons or more.

Yet this was accomplished

without wheels or pulleys

or even iron tools.

How in the world did they do it

without modern machinery?

The gods certainly didn't do it.

They used their minds.

Knowledge built these great

great structures.

Highly sophisticated knowledge.

Look.

All of the Giza pyramids are built

in perfect alignment

with certain stars.

That takes a knowledge

of astronomy.

The pyramids' foundations are laid out

in perfect angles

and dimensions,

precisely correct for the height

they wanted to reach.

Now that takes

knowledge of geometry

and mathematics.

And finally,

you must get these big stones

from down here to up there

and you must make them

all fit perfectly.

Now that takes knowledge

an incredible knowledge of

engineering and organization.

Organization?

Absolutely.

You just said so yourself.

It wasn't the gods who built

these great monuments.

It was people.

Thousands and thousands of people.

Imagine being one of

these people

living in a tiny village

more than 4,000 years ago.

Life would be pretty much

the same day in

and day out-farming,

herding cattle

fishing in the Nile.

Then one day,

you're selected to journey

by boat down the Nile.

You're now part of

the great national project

to build the pharaoh's tomb.

But you have no idea

what kind of tomb!

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